Ignorance is bliss

So, I've been getting the usual questions on a regular basis for several years now and rather than repeat myself over and over again I'm going to start answering them here. I'll try to address one issue a week, schedule allowing, which will be either one of the most common or most annoying that I encounter. This week, the big one - PROTEIN!
I've recently read The China Study (which I highly recommend if you have any questions about the health aspects of a whole foods, plant based diet), which has prompted the occasional discussion with colleagues about vegetarianism. After trying to explain the detrimental health effects of animal protein demonstrated in the book, one of my colleagues stated that "We need to eat animal protein as there are some nutrients you can only get from meat - and I've got a biology degree!". This is worrying on so many levels! Even when I did my GCSEs (UK high school exams) many moons ago (ok - 1993) we were taught that you needed to get all the essential amino acids and that, while they are all present in meat they are also present in soya. Nowadays it's accepted that you don't even need to get all of these amino acids at the same time i.e, rather than having to eat soya (or meat!), you can gain them separately from various plant sources throughout the day. However,while it's clear that we knew nearly 20 YEARS AGO that you didn't have to eat meat in order to consume a healthy amount of protein,this is still the prevailing opinion, even amongst the "educated".
Interestingly, at school we were also taught that while saturated (animal) fats were bad for you (which I'll go into in another post), low fat cuts of meat were a good way to include this protein in your diet. Unfortunately, there is now substantial evidence to support the case against, not just animal fat, but animal protein, which has been shown to contoribute to the development of various diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as osteoporosis, kidney stones and autoimmune diseases such as MS.
Populations following a mainly whole foods, plant based diet tend to have lower rates of all of these diseases (when normalised for age and activity level) than populations that consume a more animal based diet.
So no,while we do need to consume protein, we don't need to eat animals to do it, and the sooner people are taught that, the better.

Vegetarian Wedding Plans

I am getting married later this year and am planning on having an entirely vegetarian wedding. I don't think this will come as a massive surprise to our guests as both myself and my fiance are vegetarian, yet some people have called me selfish for inflicting my views on others! I don't think I've ever complained to the about the food at a wedding or any other social function, despite the fact that the veggie option is often of very poor quality. I have had to have a plate of side vegetables as xmas dinner before, as the veggie option was inedible, but I understand that the organisers cannot arrange for everyone's personal tastes to be catered for.I certainly wouldn't call them selfish. When you're catering for large numbers of people you'll never please everyone .However, I fully intend to have a chocolate wedding cake too, despite the fact that one or two of the guests can't stand chocolate, but no one seems to find that offensive! I won't be asking anyone to eat anything they don't already eat - I'm just asking them to lay off the meat for one meal. Is that really selfish? If people really object, they can get a burger on the way home - we'll never know!

Does your employer care about your choice?

Does anyone else have real problems buying veggie food at work? Where I work there are a couple of meat choices a day for lunch, then at least one different choice for dinner. These include curries, pies, pasta dishes - even a carvery. The veggie option (there is only one per day - the same one for both meals) is usually something bland covered in cheese (Obviously vegans aren't considered at all) . Even the salads contain meat, and if you want them without it the price is the same, apparently because it is too complicated to add another option to the till! The cooks seem woefully uneducated about vegetarianism. One of the veggie options is advertised as being made with parmasan. When I pointed out that it could either contain parmasan or be vegetarian, but not both, I was told that they weren't sure if it was actually parmasan and gave me the number of the catering supplies company so I could contact them myself and find out! If they were advertising something as being halal or kosher they'd have to know - so why not when they say it's vegetarian?

Why is it okay for others to bully me into eating animals?

Why do people feel the need to ask me on an almost daily basis,why I'm vegetarian? I don't bring it up. I don't actively try and convert people - each to their own.  I don't ask people why they're not vegetarian?
There are countless reasons to not eat meat, but I can't think of one reason why we should. The reason most people throw around is that we need to eat meat in order to get enough protein , iron and vitamins etc. They tend to believe the outdated stereotype that veggies are all pale and weak, or that humans are designed to eat meat because we have canines. I usually point out at this stage that gorillas are vegetarian and they have canines and can hardly be considered weak! I could raise several other valid points but that'd be slightly hypocritical in light of my previous statement. I just wish the fact that I prefer my animals alive didn't cause quite so much concern. You must have more important things to worry about!

My inspiration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCgYIP-v-e0